Kalahari Meerkat Project
The Kalahari Meerkat Project was started in 1993 when researcher Tim Clutton-Brock wanted to do a study on meerkats. He pick two places to study the meerkats. The first place was Gemsbok National Park and the other was a ranch which would later become the Kuruman River Reserve. Gemsbok National Park was was more flat ground, to the hills and dune at the ranch. Study at Gemsbok went well until a drought came and many of the groups were lost. Tim and his team finally left in 2001. Study at the ranch went much slower but soon the studing of the meerkats get better. Research at the Ranch is still going on. Gemsbok National Park Tim pick the Gemsbok National park to one of the two places where he and his team would work with meerkats. Tim's team started working in 1993. The habituated with the group went well. Soon they located 11 different groups. Then a drought came in 1994 and went on through much of 1995. During the drought 7 group died out. Soon after the owners at the Gemsbok National Park told them to leave the Park. Tim and his team left the Park in 2001. During that time Tim's team habituated 16 different groups, Jackson Five, South and Sandile were some of the group. Kuruman River Reserve Tim picked a Ranch owned by Hennie Kotze. The Ranch would later become The Kuruman River Reserve. Work at the Kuruman River Reserve was much slower than at the Gemsbok National Park. There were more hills and dune then at Gemsbok. The meerkats would run away when Tim's team got within three hundred yards but soon they habituated some meerkat groups. In 1993 they found 4 groups Griffen,Drie Doring,Zion and Kakoo. Slower they found more groups and over the years the group they habituated gave way to other groups. The short lived Avatar group founded Lazuli and Young Ones. In 1998 the famous meerkat group the Whiskers were formed. In 2000 Hennie sold the land to Tim and Tim brought land to the north. The Kalahari meerkat project is currently working with 18 groups. Over the 16 years working at the Ranch, Tim and his team worked with some 58 meerkat groups. One of the group called the Whiskers became famous from a show called Meerkat Manor and with that the whole Kalahari Meerkat Project became famous. The land east of the Gannavlakte farmhouse seems to be a death zone for meerkat groups, as Balrog,Vivian and Gattaca moved there and the group was lost because of TB. The Commandos recently settle down there and are being attack by TB. Over the years the Kalahari Meerkat Project are work with many people, wrote many articles for newspapers and other things, let filmers came and film meerkats and study Meerkats for almost 16 years. Gannavlakte Farm Gannavlakte was a farm North east of the Kuruman River Reserve in South Africa. The owners decided to sell the farm. Tim got enough money to buy the farm and he brought it in 2000. Most of the current group at the time didn't move there, then the newest Balrog moved east of the Gannavlakte farmhouse. Disease soon hit the Balrog group and then in 2007 Balrog were finally wipe out by disease. Then the Gattaca move into the land and they died of disease. Vivian a large sucessful group that lived west of Balrog and Gattaca began moving east. After Gattaca and Balrog were wiped out. The Vivian soon lost about 8 member a month to disease and finally died out. For almost a year no group moved east of Gannavlakte farmhouse until the Commandos in late 2008. The first death came when the dominant male and female and a male adult died. The Commandos move away from the area and were no longer able to be followed. Geckos and Kung Fu are the next closes to the Gannavlakte. Kung Fu live west of the farmhouse and Geckos live about northwest of the farmhouse. The Geckos disappeared and a new group called the Gremlins are thought to be some of the missing member as they were found in the Geckos territory. Meerkat Population The project works with a number of habituated meerkat groups, with most individuals allowing observers to walk within a metre while they are foraging. There are currently 13 habituated groups with approximately 290 meerkats ranging from 9 to 39 members per group. Experiments are facilitated by the following characteristics: *Unambigous identification of individuals is ensured, based on characteristic visible marks as well as on ID transponders. Groups can be traced and identified by radio-collars attached to a dominant animal. *Observers can touch and weigh almost all individuals on regular basis. It is possible to collect samples(blood,urine or fecal samples) of most animals, allowing reseearchers to obtain detailed behavioral data, conduct controlled experiments and to estimate the costs of coorperation to individual heplers. *Accurate life history records are collected for each individual within the population whicch in combination of genetic data,allow estimates of lifetime reproductive succcess to be made. Births,deaths,pregnancies the onset and conclusion of lactation and oestrus, changes in dominance status and even short-term absence from a group are regarded as important data. Lost Groups List of groups lost at the Kuruman River Reserve. Asphodel (2002) Avatar (1994 - 1995) Balrog (2001 - 2007) Colombians Mob (2010) Centaur (-2001) Commandos (2004 - 2009) Elveera (1993 - 2009) Gattaca (2001 - 2007) Geckos (2008- 2009) Gremlins Mob (2010) Griffin Mob (1993 - 1994) Harley Mob (1997 - 1998) Hells Angels Mob (2010) Hoax (2007) Hobgoblin (2001 - 2002) Hobo Mob (1997 - 1998) Hoppla (2008 - 2009) Incas (2007) Isis Mob (- 2001) Jabberwocky Mob (1999) Jackals (2004 - 2005) Java Mob (2007) Jungle Mob (- 1995) Kakoo Mob (1993) KK Mob (2000 - 2001) Mixed Pickle Mob (1996) Moomins Mob (2001 - 2010) Nemesis Mob (1999 - 2000) Nomads (2005 - 2006) Nutters Mob (2007 - 2008) Nutty Mob (2006) Phantom (1994 - 1999) Pharside Mob (2002) PK (2008) PQ Mob (2006) Polaris (2007 - 2008) Pretenders Mob (2009 - 2010) Quantum Mob (1994 -1996) QQ Mob (2000 - 2001) Red Mob ( - 1994) Riffraff Mob (1998) Shifty Mob (- 1994) Sirius Mob (1999) Starsky (2006 -2007) Taurus Mob (1996) Tottenham Mob (2001 - 2002) Umbongo Mob (1999 - 2001) Unicorn Mob (1996) Urukhai (2009 - 2010) UV Mob (2006) Vivian (1995 - 2007) Young Ones (1995 - 2008) X-iles Mob (1997 - 1999) Xhosa (2002 - 2003) Zappa (2002 - 2008) Zion (1993) Gemsbok National Park There were 16 mobs studies and all were no longer followed after 2001. Jackson Five Mob South Mob Sandile Mob Current Groups List of the current existing meerkats groups at the Kuruman River Reserve. Aztecs Mob Baobab Mob Ewoks Mob Drie Doring Mob Frisky Mob Godzilla Mob JaXX Mob Kung Fu Mob Lazuli Mob Nequoia Mob Rascals Mob Sequoia Mob Toyota Mob Van Helsing Mob Whiskers Mob Zulus Mob Meerkat Groups at the Kuruman River Reserve * In 1993 Tim's team located and track four wild groups of meerkats, the groups would soon be called Drie Doring, Kakoo, Griffin and Zion. Sadly Zion and Kakoo were lost. * In 1994 Tim's team located wild groups which would later become Avatar, and Phantom and members of the lost Zion group founded Quantum. Griffen were lost during the year. * In 1995 Tim's team located Vivian and Avatar members founded Young Ones and Lazuli. Avatar was lost during the year. * In 1996 Tim's team located wild groups; Mix Pickle, Unicorn, Taurus and Nutty. Phantons members founded Elveera. Quantum, Mix Pickle, Unicorn, Phantoms, Taurus and Nutty were lost. * In 1997 Lazuli females started X-iles. * In 1998 Rascals and Whiskers were formed. * In 1999 Frisky, Jabberwocky, Nemesis, Sirius and Umbongo were founded. X-iles, Phantoms, Sirius and Jabberwocky were lost * In 2000 KK was founded and soon renamed QQ * In 2001 Gattaca, Hobgoblin, Moomins, Tottenham, Balrog and Zappa are founded. QQ,Nemesis,and Umbongo were lost * In 2002 Asphodel, Pharside and Xhose were founded. Hobgoblin, Asphodel, Tottenham and Pharside were lost. * In 2003 Xhosa were lost * In 2004 Commandos and Jackals were founded. Meerkat Manor filimg started * In 2005 Nomands were founded. Jackels were lost. * In 2006 Starsky and PQ were founded and Nomads were lost. * In 2007 '''Tim's team located Nutters, Java and Polaris. Aztecs, Hoax, Baobab, Kung Fu and Geckos were founded. Java, Starsky, Gattaca, Barlog, Vivian and Hoax were lost. * In '''2008 PK ,Toyota, Van Helsing, JaXX, Sequoia and Hoppla were founded, PK, Nutters and Zappa were lost. Sequoia split but the spinter group disappeared but was seen often. Meerkat Manor filimg ended. * In 2009: The Sequoia splinter group was lcoated and called Pretenders, Tim's team located wild group Nequoia, Baoabab splinter group called Urukhai was formed. However the Geckos was lost. * In 2010: The Urukhai, Pretenders and Moomins were lost. Gremlins were found but soon lost. Tim's team located Zulus, Colombians and Hells Angels. Both the Colomians and Hells Angles were soon lost as well. The Ewoks and Godzilla group were founded. * In 2011: Meerkat Manor Meerkat Manor was film at the Kuruman River Reserve and focus on the Group called the Whiskers. When Meerkat Manor aired in the US and Eupore, the show became a hit and the Whisker became famous and soon the Kalahari Meerkat Project became famous too. In early 2004 Carolina Hawkins visited Tim Clutton-Brock to talk about a TV show with Tim's meerkats then in late June a film crew came to the Ranch and started filming the group called the Whiskers. In 2006 the show as shown on Animal planet and was a big hit. The show was called Meerkat Manor. The Film crew soon came back to the Ranch to film season 2. Meerkat Manor had 4 seasons, the film crew recently decided to take a break. Season 4 is currently showing in Uk and the film crew may come back to film season 5. Meerkat Manor also film a Movie about Flower called Meerkat Manor The Story Begins. Meerkats Groups At the start of the project and Tim and his team need to found wild meerkat groups and put a tracking collar on one of the animal in the group. Then found out where sleep during the night. Over the next few months the meerkats would begin letting Tim and the people who work on the project follow them. Then the meerkat would get a mark(s) and there body and a code name.(Flower code name was VWF026, the V stand for Van Zylsrus, the W stand for the group and the 026 stand for the number of pups born or wild meerkat who join the group,so Flower was the 26 pup born into the Whiskers). Litters of pups are also given a code (litter VF06008, V stands for Van Zylsrus, F for Frisky and 006 means that in 2006, 008 means 8th litter, in total it says: The Frisky group had its 8th litter of pups born in 2006).Then one of the people working with the group would give the meeerkat a name. Over the years habituated meerkats team up with other habituated meerkats to start a new group and Tim's team didn't have to found and habituated other wild group. Category:Meerkat Projects